PM waiting for reports on work to halt timber smuggling in three months
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman is waiting for the reports on the work to halt timber smuggling from each structural division of the State Forestry Agency in three months.
"In three months I want to hear from each forestry agency what has been done, including by the law enforcement system, to stop timber smuggling," he said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Taras Kutoviy who presented the interactive map of unlawful forest devastation said that as of October 1, 2016 the area of 530 forest devastation sections totals 774.3 ha.
"I have promised that we would not forget the story about forests. Everyone would be punished for allowing himself to confuse state-owned assets with private one… The alternative forest map is a sentence on some concrete heads of state forestry agencies," he said.
Last week the government passed a resolution approving the new rules for deforestation that would toughen requirements. Deforestation will banned in some protected areas.